There are so many perfectly good reasons for a PAC to attack Senator Ricketts.

You can attack him for his vote for that drunken philanderer Pete Hegseth, allowing him to put us in Iran with no strategy to win or get out. You could shine a light on his pro-measles vote for RFK Jr. or point out how he was against releasing the Epstein files. Remind voters of how he worked to negate the will of 71% of Nebraska voters and the stupidity of saying that medical marijuana will kill children.

Yes, there are plenty of valid reasons to run attack ads on our junior Senator.

They didn’t have to run the one that is airing, where a woman talks about how when Pete Ricketts was governor, he was the deciding vote on the Pardons Board that pardoned a man who was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman.

If you haven’t seen the commercial, it goes something like this…

It starts out with a warning that the ad is graphic, then it shows the number for the Domestic Violence Hotline. 1-800-799-7233.

Then a female voice talks about how Pete Ricketts was the deciding vote to pardon a man who had sexually assaulted her.

The ad is in black and white, and the tone is somber. The woman mentions how she was never informed that her assailant was to go up before the pardons board.

It doesn’t mention if the man ever committed another crime after he was pardoned, but I’m guessing if he had, they would have mentioned it.

The victim has every reason to be angry. I am, however, upset that this pardon is being used for political purposes.

You see, I’ve done volunteer work in the Nebraska State Pen.

Before my volunteer work, I had the same impression of prisoners as most people. These were bad, horrendous people who should be kept out of society.

Now don’t get me wrong; there are indeed many prisoners in there who should never see the light of day. Some prisoners in there are really bad people.

But there are also a number of those incarcerated who are good people who did some bad things. Yes, they deserve to be punished. But what about giving them a second chance once they get out? What do we do to help those who have done their time assimilate back into society? Don’t they deserve to rebuild their lives?

Now I totally understand why a political opponent would run an ad like that. It creates an emotional response and gets voters’ attention. But I also think it does a lot of damage.

It’s hard enough for a person once they’ve been convicted of a crime to get pardoned. The people on the board are all politicians. The Governor, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of State decide who gets pardoned, and they’re already worried about any ramifications if they make a mistake and pardon the wrong person.

When ads like this hit the airwaves, people who should be pardoned won’t get pardoned in case those politicians on the board have to answer for attack ads like this in future elections.

Politicians get elected by saying they are going to be tough on crime. They don’t get elected by promising to give prisoners a second chance to become productive citizens.

Finding ways to help these men and women who’ve done their time should be a concern for us all.

But there are political risks in doing that, and political figures who are willing to take those risks are few and far between.

Obviously, not every criminal who goes before the pardons board deserves to be pardoned. By Ricketts own admission, this guy was on the bubble. He gave this man a chance, and it could hurt him politically.

By hurting these politicians with ads like this, it could hurt us all by making it harder for the ex-cons to assimilate and increase the chances of them committing more crimes once they’re out.

Since this pardon was granted, the laws have been updated to notify victims of upcoming pardon hearings. Unfortunately, the victim in this case didn’t have that chance.

I don’t know if President Trump coming to Nebraska to campaign for Ricketts is a good look right now. Should the man in the Epstein Files, thousands of times, be stumping for a man who pardoned a sex offender?

Ricketts support of the man who got us into war, alienated our allies, and caused gas prices to rise is another good reason not to vote for him.

His time on the Pardon board is not.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.